Nearing 40, Angela Hill confident she can hang with UFC's strawweight new blood

LAS VEGAS – Angela Hill feels she’s still got it and wants to prove it to the MMA world.

Hill, one of the most seasoned names in women’s MMA today, is nearing 40 and carrying a decade of fighting experience as she enters Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 241 main card bout against Luana Pinheiro. Many fighters have come and gone, but Hill has maintained her status as a contender over the years.

With a growing new crop of contenders, Hill is confident she’s up to the task and is excited to face 30-year-old Pinheiro.

“It’s a tough test for me because she’s young, and she’s aggressive,” Hill said when asked about the challenge at Wednesday’s UFC Fight Night 241 media day. “I’m proving a lot to myself just by getting in there and beating up on someone like that. If this is what the top 10 looks like, I’m really feeling confident about it.

“You have a lot of younger up-and-coming fighters in the top 10 now. Before it was kind of like a stalemate of all the people of my generation who made it or fought for the title. They were all just bogging it up. Now you have people like Loopy (Godinez), who I beat, and people like (Tabatha) Ricci up there. I feel like there’s a lot of names for me to match up that I haven’t already fought.”

Hill (16-13 MMA, 11-13 UFC) is coming off a unanimous decision win over Denis Gomes in November. The victory put her at 3-1 in her past four performances.

She’s excited to be fighting Pinheiro (11-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) not only one of the new faces of the division, but also someone that’s ranked ahead of her in the UFC’s official rankings.

“It was cool to get the name just because I felt confident about it,” Hill said “It’s one of those matchups you see them in the top 10, and you think, ‘Man, that would be a good one for me. Hopefully, I’ll be able to show that on Saturday and keep that momentum going from last fight.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 241.